LAINE
COUNTY, one of the sandhill region group, was Indian hunting
ground when the first white man explored its river valleys. There
was big game in abundance and doubtless it was a favorite resort.
This is evidenced by Indian bone and stone implements as well as
by arrow points and fragments of pottery which have been found.
Even as late as the present, collectors make numerous and valuable
finds on wind eroded fields.
The following legend is told in connection with
one of the discoveries:

As Chief Smoke Maker lay dying, a score of his
braves stood about on the hill overlooking the North Loup river,
flowing and glowing in a bold southward curve.
In an encounter with government surveyors on
Spring Creek miles down the North Loup valley he had been wounded.
With skill that belied their haste they had constructed a travois
from ash poles cut in the canyon. Tenderly had they placed their
stricken chief upon the conveyance and taken the up-river
trail.
Outwardly indifferent to the burning pain of the
bullet-wound through his chest, Chief Smoke Maker endured the
agony aggravated by the jolting. Through the long night they had
traveled toward where the sun, blood-red, had dropped below the
sandhills. Without resting they had urged their tough mustangs on,
even after the sun arose in the misty east.
At last they halted. Chief Smoke Maker was
failing rapidly. Even as their medicine man began the incantations
of his magic formula, death came. In accordance with their burial
custom, they cut cottonwood and willow along the river and erected
a scaffold on the low hill overlooking the stream. The chief,
wrapped in his blanket and buffalo robe and with all his brilliant
trappings of beaded buckskin and eagle feathers, was laid to rest
on the scaffold. Later they would return and gather the remaining
bones to deposit in the ossiary of their tribesmen.
Briefly they discussed leaving the large silver
medal their chief always wore suspended by a thong about his neck.
The Great White Father at Washington had given the medal to his
father, also a chief, as a special mark of respect and peaceful
intention--a treaty the white man never kept for long. Custom
prevailed and they did not remove the priceless medal from the
lifeless chest of their beloved chieftain.
During the summer of 1884 Henry H. Copp came
with his family to claim a parcel of public domain adjoining the
hill where the scaffold had been erected. Copp's son Alvah D., a
youngster of exploring tendencies, one day came upon the grinning
skull of the Indian chief. Investigation disclosed the burned off
posts in the soil, great quantities of beads and the tarnished
medal. He polished the silver on his boot leg until it glittered
as, brightly as when cast sixty-seven years before.
The medal was about two inches in diameter and
bore on the obverse a replica of the bust of President Monroe,
truncation HURSTF. Legend: "James Monroe, President of the U. S.,
A. D., 1817." Reverse: Two hands clasped, on cuff of one three
stripes and as many buttons. The other hand (Indian's) with bare
wrist. Above were crossed peacepipe and tomahawk; legend: "Peace
and Friendship." After more than half a century Mr. Copp retains
and treasures the medal. However, he does not vouch for the truth
of the tradition of Chief Smoke Maker.
The Indian did not tolerate passively the
invasion of his hunting grounds by the whites. Joseph 0. Barton,
who with his family settled in the North Loup valley, found it
necessary to be constantly on guard. One day during his absence
from home his wife, Rose, defended her daughter from abduction by
a party of Sioux. With her husband's needle gun she held the chief
and his braves at bay until the intruders departed.
Among the first cattle ranchers were Rankin
Brothers and Field Brothers whose spreads were on the Middle Loup,
a river flowing through southwest Blaine County. Both these
ranches have had much to do with the history and development of
the Middle Loup territory.
The Sawyer Ranch, just over the line in Loup
County, was established in 1879 and was closely identified with
the settlement of Blaine County. Fred and George Sawyer were
typical cowboys, but their eastern culture gave them high rating
in pioneer business and social circles of their community.
Taylor S. Northup and wife Helen, from New York
City, established the first ranch in Blaine County territory
tradition states. It was located on Hawley Flats east of Boiling
Spring and south from the confluence of Goose Creek with the North
Loup. The proprietors spent several fortunes in the development.
Unfortunately the ranch never paid dividends to its eastern
financial backers. Closely associated with the Northup ranch are
the names of

41

Blaine

Who's Who

Thomas Burke and Pete Rodocker, early day foremen-cowpunchers;
Annie McCormick-Steuer, a housekeeper who became Mrs. Thomas
Burke, and John Featherston who suffered an injury making him a
cripple for life while riding for the spread.
Richard R. Greenland, first settler on Buffalo
Flats, later Purdum, was a famous cowboy of the old west. Perhaps
no other man was more familiar with beginnings in the North Loup
Valley. Unfortunately he has passed over the "Great Divide" and a
valuable source of information is closed.
Brewster, county seat of Blaine for fifty-two,
years, was the first town. George Washington Brewster, wealthy
newspaper publisher and direct descendant of Elder William
Brewster of Mayflower fame, came from Oakland, Neb., and
homesteaded in 1884. He expended his fortune building his town and
declared through his newspaper that "Brewster would soon be the
state capitol because of its central location."
Booming his county and town, he published the
Brewster News at Oakland for some months. In Brewster he erected
several buildings among which was a large hotel occupied by
himself and family: Elizabeth, daughter Mollie L., and two sons,
William and Ben A. At his own expense he bridged the North Loup,
built county fair buildings rivalling those of modern times and
constructed the Brewster Block, which must have cost as much as
all the other buildings in town.
At the suggestion of Brewster, who was a Civil
War veteran and a Republican, the new county was given the name of
Blaine in honor of the presidential candidate. The town was named
for Elder Brewster and not for the newspaper publisher, as some
contend.
Among the first business establishments old
timers recall S. Swengel, hardware and groceries, and George W.
Drew, general merchandise. Drew's wife, Flora, was his assistant
and the postmaster. Mrs. Drew later conducted a general store.
George F. Cole operated a general store in a sod building and
preached on Sundays. John Albright, Frank Howell, W. S. Richey,
druggist; L. H. Harris "rocket store" and the St. Charles Hotel
were other popular establishments.
E. W. "Wright" Rankin of the Rankin ranch,
ambitious for prestige, platted and built a town which he named
Ladora, a contender in the battle for the location of the county
seat. It was not more than one-half a mile southeast of Brewster
and upon the same sagebrush-covered, gravel flat. Several business
concerns were also established.
Northwestward up the North Loup river was
platted a third town, which also became a contestant in the battle
for the location of the county seat. Records do not reveal its
sponsor but tradition says it was merely a town on paper.
At the insistence of George W. Brewster and
others the governor appointed as temporary officials: M. C. Lyons,
clerk; David C. Dale, Joseph 0. Barton and William Schlingman
commissioners, with Dale as chairman.
These officers held their first meeting in
Brewster, June 24, 1886 and arranged for three voting places:
Brewster precinct at Brewster, Rankin precinct at the home of
Russell Dunning near the confluence of the Dismal and Middle Loup
river and Purdum at Purdum postoffice on Buffalo Flats. The second
meeting was held at Brewster Sept. 16, 1886. At this session they
arranged for an election to be held Nov. 2 of the same year.
Nov. 6, 1886 the board met to canvass the
election. Purdum cast 25 votes; Rankin 31; Brewster 107. Outside
interests were neglected in the voting, with Rankin precinct
failing entirely to vote for district and state candidates. The
results of the county election was announced by the board Nov. 8,
as follows:

The two candidates for county clerk were
William H. Smith and Edward H. Riggs, and each received 66 votes.
The tie was decided by the toss of a coin and Smith won. Riggs was
appointed deputy clerk. Tradition states that Smith was unable to
qualify. The others were County Treasurer Robert Dorgan; Judge
Robert Smith; Attorney M. B. Wealch; Surveyor Uriah Hollopeter;
Sheriff Andrew "Jack" Robbinault; Superintendent Addie Leach;
Commissioners T. C. Jackson, Taylor S. Northup, R. 0. Dunning. The
vote for county seat location was Ladora 63; Blaine Center 43;
Brewster 24. Since no candidate received a majority, no election
was declared.

In a special election called for Nov. 23 of the
same year, Ladora won by a majority of eighteen. The commissioners
met Jan. 4, 1887 and declared the town to be the permanent seat of
county government. They held their first session in Ladora on Feb.
22, 1887.
Brewster was defeated but not whipped in his
fight to have his town declared the county seat. By devious wire
pulling and unrecorded machination, he won in the general election
of 1887 and in January of 1888 Brewster became the premanent (sic)
seat of county government.
One term of district court was held in Ladora.
One of western Nebraska's outstanding murder cases was tried at
this session. Judge T. 0. C. Harrison presided at the trial of
Mike Yoakum, who was charged in the shooting of Lincoln Downing.
Yoakum was acquitted by a jury. John H. Evans' plea for the
defendant was a masterpiece. Judge Harrison and his reporter
Charles W. Pearsall chose to sleep in the hay loft of the livery
barn in preference to the hotel accommodations of that period,
relates the late George A. Evans.
Ladora appears to have been executed instead of
dying a natural death. All her business houses were moved to
Brewster and the last residence went up in flames the following
year. When it was evi-

42

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Blaine

dent to Ladora supporters that they were losing to Brewster,
ninety electors of Purdum, Rankin and Brewster precincts signed a
petition asking that the board of Loup County commissioners annex
Blaine County territory to Loup. Western Loup County had recently
lost a move to have Almeria designated as the county seat, Such an
annexation would have resulted in a new election and Almeria would
have been assured of victory. A counter-petition saved the
situation and Brewster and Taylor have remained county seat towns
to the present time.
The problem of law violation frequently arose in
those days to plague residents of the community. Doc Middleton
established a saloon and gambling joint in the building that now
houses the telephone exchange and in January 1889 the Brewster
News demanded: "Shall the Brewster whiskey ring run the
county?"
Prior to his advent in Brewster, Middleton was
said to have figured among the "bad men" of northwest Nebraska. He
allegedly had been the leader of a gang of horse thieves with
rendezvous in the sandhills of Cherry County, known as "Rustlers
Roost." His lieutenant, "Kid" Wade, never was known to have
operated in Blaine County. "Kid's" sister, Mrs. Frank Daily, lived
in Brewster during those hectic days when one seldom concerned
himself regarding his neighbor's antecedents.
Perhaps the outstanding tragedy in Blaine
Country's early history was the accidental shooting of Judge C. W.
Aikin. While he was attempting to assist in the settlement of a
cattle rustling case, Aikin and one of the rustlers whom he had
captured were shot and instantly killed by a deputy sheriff. The
leader of the rustlers, a Negro, was arrested following the double
tragedy. To the everlasting shame of the authorities of that
period the Negro went free.
Unfortunately no records are available as to the
early history of fraternal and civic organizations in the county.
Memory, faulty at the best, recalls that these vigorous groups
existed: Grand Army of the Republic and its auxiliary, the Women's
Relief Corps; W. C. T. U.; County Agricultural Society; A. 0. U.
W.; Degree of Honor; and several others of minor importance. An
item from the Blaine County Democrat of 1888: "We are informed
that a vigilance society was organized in German Valley. The
object and purpose of this society is to put a stop to claim
jumping." Tradition states that the "Vigs" filled a recognized
need and claim jumping became unpopular.
The Catholic Church was early on the scene with
Masses read in the Edward McCormick soddy on Hawley Flats.
Unfortunately, no record is available of the name of the priest
who officiated.
The first Sunday school in the county is said to
have been organized in the soddy home of Mr. and Mrs. Edwin B.
Smith and Experience Hack Smith, mother of the former. The first
superintendent was Benjamin F. May and other officers and teachers
were Mr. and Mrs. Fred W. Spencer, George W. Clay and wife, John
A. Hoagberg, Mrs. E. P. Dunn, Mrs. George Pixley, Victor and
Anthon Carlson. The first church, a Methodist Episcopal, was
established at Brewster in September 1890. William M. Scott,
Charles H. Fish and George W. Aukney were the incorporators. Among
the active members were Mr. and Mrs. Charles E. VanNeste, Judge
and Mrs. C. W. Aikin and daughters Jessie and Stella, Mrs. Parker,
Olive Albright, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Barton and others
unrecorded.
In March 1899 the G. H. Brewster Memorial
Congregational Church was established in Brewster and Pleasant
Valley with a membership of thirty-seven. This organization has
been active since its inception, and has a church building and
parsonage at Brewster. It seems appropriate that in the town named
for Elder Brewster there should be a Congregational Church. It is
also noteworthy that one of the church's active workers, Mollie L.
Brewster-Erickson, should be a daughter of the town's founder.
Among the active workers of the pioneer church were: Fred W.
Spencer and family; John Ferguson and family; J. Christy Golson
and family; E. B. and Anna L. Smith, Elsworth and Esther Sandall;
Charles and Sina Van Neste and son Paul; Joseph and Rose Barton
and son Edward; Charles and Laura Fletcher and sons Guy and Olin;
P. C. Erickson and wife Louise Pitt-Erickson; Grace
Gardiner-Harris and others. The present pastor, Rev. Frank Raef,
has a large parish that includes the Brewster, Dunning and Purdum
Churches, with several preaching points.
The Dunning Congregational Church organized Oct.
30, 1900 with a membership of eight. It has maintained religious
activities to the present time and owns a church building and
parsonage. In early days there was a Christian Science group in
Dunning led by the L. H. Harris family.
A Methodist Episcopal Church was established at
Purdum in 1886. Among its organizers and membership one finds the
names of Sanford and Ruth Oldham, prominent religious and
educational workers of that period.
The Purdum Congregational Church was organized
in November 1907 with a membership of thirty-six. When this church
was formed, folk from all denominations united and its membership
list indicates that Purdum had the largest percent of church folk
of any Blaine County community. In the passing of the late Levi A.
Cox the church lost an outstanding man.
Pleasant Valley Methodist Episcopal Church was
established during the 90's. Later it merged with the
Congregational. At present the Church of God is the active
religious group in that community. The large membership has a
church building and supports a pastor. The present pastor is Rev.
Mr. Cuttshall.

43

Blaine

Who's Who

The First German Evangelical Lutheran, St.
John Church, was established in German Valley April 30, 1904.
Prominent in its organization was Christian Schipporeit, one of
the first settlers in the valley. This church supports a pastor
and has a building and pastor's residence.
Blaine County's first two banking houses were in
Brewster. Sept. 27, 1887, articles of incorporation were filed for
the International Bank of Brewster; L. H. Harris and U. Harris
incorporators. Peder C. Erickson was bookkeeper and cashier. It
was reorganized as the International State Bank, July 21, 1890,
with the same personnel.
The First Bank of Brewster filed articles of
incorporation April 2, 1888. The incorporators were residents of
Taylor, Neb., the cashier being the only one who resided in
Brewster. The personnel was F. A. Dann, A. P. Cully, A. U. Dann,
George F. Scott and Darwin W. King.
The Home State Bank of Dunning was incorporated
July 23, 1917.
The Dunning State Bank incorporated May 19,
1919. The officers and directors were L. W. Wilson, F. H. Field,
M. S. Eddy, G. C. Zutavern and M. E. Harris.
The Purdum State Bank incorporated in 1914, the
personnel being E. L. Thomas, L. G. Crampton and G. H. Cox. This
is the only bank in Blaine County that is doing business at this
time. J. F. Moody is president and G. H. Cox is vice-president and
cashier.
The Lincoln and Black Hills Railroad Co., filed
articles of incorporation Sept. 3, 1887 and built a grade to
within five miles of Brewster. No rails were laid beyond Sargent,
and Brewster is still an inland county seat.
The Nebraska and Western incorporated and
completed their line through the southwestern part of Blaine
County during the late eighties and Dunning became the railroad
shipping point for a considerable territory. This accounts for its
being the metropolis of Blaine County.
Blaine County was organized during the final
years of a wet cycle and crops were abundant until 1889, when
drouth and famine were general. Perhaps not a dweller in the
central Nebraska region failed to receive some form of relief. The
E. B. Smith hog ranch was stocked with 500 head of swine, of which
100 were brood sows. Not a bushel of grain was in the valley when
winter came. Mr. Smith knocked in the head 400 animals and most of
the breeding stock starved before spring.
Not less than eleven groups or individuals
acquired water rights or incorporated for the purpose of
constructing irrigation canals between the years 1894 and 1896. In
the Middle Loup valley five irrigation projects were incorporated
and at least two excavated canals. The records show: Custer County
Pioneer Irrigation Co., August, 1894; Middle Loup Valley
Irrigation Canal Co., February, 1894; Lillian Precinct Irrigation
Ditch & Power Co., August, 1894; Harris Canal, water right
filed 1896.
L. H. Jewett constructed a canal that irrigated
about 600 acres in the forks of the Dismal and Middle Loup.
The North Loup valley activities were fully as
extensive. The Compton Irrigation & Power Co., was
incorporated by Thomas Dentler, S. W. Bivens, George H. Shirk,
John M. Evans and M. L. Frizzell, December, 1896; Newton
Irrigation Co., April 1895, with acreage for most part in Loup
County; Blaine County Irrigation Co., incorporated November, 1894
by T. S. Northup, S. A. Daily, Pat McCormick, J. N. Fletcher, E.
W. Rankin, P. C. Erickson and W. E. Swengel, Vineland canal water
right filed January, 1896 by Taylor S. Northup and Pat McCormick,
irrigated Northup ranch and other Hawley Flats farms.
The Brewster Irrigation & Power Co.,
incorporated in September, 1895 with a proposed system to irrigate
the south side of the valley from west of Brewster to a point east
of Sawyer's ranch. Incorporators were L. H. Harris, J. N.
Fletcher, I. S. Dodds, J. C. Golson, B. S. Sawyer, Albert Nixon,
Dr. W. S. Irwin, S. A. Dailey, C. H. Stewart, John Ferguson,
Sr.
The North Loup Valley Canal was incorporated and
financed by Peder C. Erickson and Mollie L. Brewster- Erickson
during the period 1894-96. The head gate was located east of
Brewster one mile on the north side of the river. The canal was
about ten miles in length. This project gave employment to labor
and its waters irrigated a large area for several years or until
normal rainfall made irrigation unprofitable. Mr. Erickson
invested thousands of dollars but received nothing in return.
Blaine County is not within the agricultural area and has no
extensive irrigation projects in operation.
Dunning was first known as Lena postoffice in
1882. Elisha Taylor was the first postmaster and Fred Field
succeeded him. In 1886 the postoffice was moved to the present
location and was named Dunning for R. A. Dunning. The cattle ranch
of Fred and Floyd Field was three miles east and was one of the
finest spreads in the county. This ranch is now owned by W. G.
Zutavern.
Among the first business folk in Dunning was L.
H. Harris who erected the first hotel where he and his wife and
two children, Lottie and Bert, lived many years. Mr. Harris also
owned and operated a large general store and a coal and lumber
yard. Fred and Floyd Field, Miner Brothers, Dr. Boaz, Overman,
Manderville, Blakley, Turnbull Caywood, Roberts, Dr. Owens,
Bolejack, Fees, Pete Starr, Jones and Thompson are names connected
with the early settlement of Dunning.
The first graded as well as the first high
school was in Dunning and Laura Parker Miner is given credit for
sponsoring the first class ever graduated. Tradition states that
among the first class members were Marcia Caywood, Lottie Harris
and Alice and Maggie Blakely. Dunning furnished three county
superintendants: Laura Parker Miner, Etta Brooks and Halbert H.
Thompson.

44

in Nebraska

Blaine

The Dismal river, south of Dunning a short
distance, in early days had a fine growth of red cedar but Custer
County settlers had cut and hauled most of it away by 1879. On the
Dismal river is the site of an early Indian village and Wild Horse
Flats boasted a herd of wild horses. Floyd Field, perhaps the
oldest pioneer settler, relates that he "tried his luck in
catching wild horses."
Richard R. Greenland and wife were among the
first to locate upon the fertile Buffalo Flats. George W. Purdum
and family were early settlers and established the first
postoffice, probably prior to 1886. Parker Giles established the
first trading post that was later purchased by G. H. Cox and is
still owned and operated by Mr. Cox and J. F. Moody. Purdum
boasted a "brass band," a MWA lodge with a sod hall, and the first
automobile.
Purdum has produced many outstanding citizens.
The second county superintendent of Blaine was T. C. Beck,
followed by Mrs. Sanford (Ruth) Oldham and the present incumbent,
Gwynee L. Neubauer in addition to Mrs. T. C. Jackson, instructor
in teachers' institute, and Rev. Homer Cox. The town has always
maintained a high religious, moral and educational standard.
Among the names of the earliest settlers are:
Keller, Oldham, Cox, Giles, Riggs, Jackson, Simonton, White,
Teaford, Dunn, Schlasman, Pritchard, Robbinault, Heitter and
Beebout. Kate Dunning Keller, an early day poet, was a resident of
Purdum.
According to record Blaine County schools were
first organized as follows:

Among the active and potential teachers of that
period were: Mrs. Josie Howell, Mrs. Dack Simonton, Carrie and
Dora Cooper, Lewis Calkins, Kate Dunning, B. S. Swingel, G. Hollie
Cox, Ella Golson Robbinault, Laura Miner, Gertrude Teaford, Nettie
Ferguson, Jennie Shull, Mollie L. Brewster, Belle Clay, I. S.
Dodds, Hollie Baker, Mary Fish, Jessie Dunn and Thurman A.
Smith.
The present superintendent is Gwynne Neubauer.
Blaine County has three twelve-grade schools and one ten-grade
with a total of thirty districts. The valuation of high school
property is $82,920; eighth grade rural schools $29,342.
The first physician to locate in Brewster was W.
S. Irwin, M. D., who practiced for about twenty years prior to his
death. Purdum had two resident physicians, Dr. A. B. Cox and his
son, Dr. C. B. W. Cox. The son was active for approximately thirty
years.
Dunning's first physician was Dr. Boaz. Later
Dr. Owens and Dr. Williams served the community.
The Brewster News, established 1884 by George
Washington Brewster, was published over a period of forty years by
Peder C. Erickson; the present, owner and editor is Olin
Fletcher.
The Blaine County Democrat was established 1886
in Ladora by Ellis and Button. It was consolidated with the
Brewster News about 1891.
The Blaine County Booster was established about
1912; the present publisher is Orrin B. Winter.
Doubtless the first established home was a
soddy; the first schools were held in sod shacks; the first
religious gathering was in a sod-house home; the first election
was held in earthen huts not much better than those constructed by
the Indians who hunted the buffalo, elk, and antelope prior to the
settler's coming. These modest homes were heated with cowchip and
twisted hay fires in cook stoves and an occasional fireplace
constructed of sod and clay mud.
Even today one still finds soddies here and
there in the sand hills. William Lovelace, architect and builder,
besides making his own ranch a show place in the county has also
built the Cottonwood School on Goose Creek, the Lovelace and Moody
residences and Prudum bank and store building. In the vicinity of
these modern stucco structures is a baled-hay house, pine board
shacks and dignified frame farm houses.
The courthouse today is a cement structure fully
adequate. The official personnel: Clerk, Elmer N. Demary;
Treasurer, Mrs. E. Smith; Judge, Albert Arms; Superintendent,
Gwynee L. Neubauer; Attorney, Carl G. Humphrey; Surveyor, Scott L.
turner; Commissioners, Carl Foote, Gus Jochem; Kyle Cox.
Blaine County doubtless suffered less from the
depression and drouth than counties outside the Sandhill region.
Stock raising and dairy products are its principal industries. The
people have found

45

Blaine

Who's Who

their place in the economic program. With normal rainfall they
will be prosperous and happy. They are hopeful. The 1939 valuation
was $2,666,695. In 1886 the estimate of county expense was $2,200,
which was considered ample for all needs.
With a rich heritage of pioneer ancestry they
face the future undismayed by the present drouth cycle. United in
effort, they have dedicated their best achievements to fulfillment
of the high ideals of the sod house dwellers of 1886.

& oprs St Charles Hotel, Brewster; during World War knitted
for ARC held co record for number of sweaters & socks made;
lived for a short time in Kearney following the World War, later
retd to North Loup River valley; Evang Ch; hobbies, potted plants,
flower garden, embroidery & knitting: res Taylor1.